


always

by Areiton



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: (sorta) - Freeform, Consensual, Kate mentioned, M/M, Mates, No Hale Fire, Pining, Uncle/Nephew Incest
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-07
Updated: 2019-01-07
Packaged: 2019-10-05 21:32:23
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 734
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17332742
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Areiton/pseuds/Areiton
Summary: When Derek is eight, he gives Peter a ring. It’s a small, gaudy thing he found in a gumball machine, and Peter hates it.But the wide, happy smile that Derek gave him, the warm trusting eyes--Peter crouches down and takes it, gravely, saying, “Thank you, pup.”





	always

**Author's Note:**

  * For [syriala](https://archiveofourown.org/users/syriala/gifts).



“Laura?” Derek's voice is tiny and adorable and so grating it makes him long for knives to poke in his ears. 

Peter bites back his groan. He adores his niece and nephew, truly. But after five solid days of babysitting, he was ready to give them back and swear off children forever. 

“Laura,” Derek hisses insistently and Lo rolls in her blankets. 

“What s'it,” she slurs. 

“When I get big,” Derek says seriously, “Can I marry ‘ncle Peter?” 

His heart squeezes and he bites his lip to stifle his smile. 

Sweet puppy. 

Lo giggles, “ _ No!  _ That's silly, Derek. Go ta sleep.” 

He listens to the quiet shift of blankets and then Lo's even breathing and Derek's quiet sniffles. 

And his whispered, “Not silly. I  _ can  _ marry him.” 

~*~ 

When Derek is eight, he gives Peter a ring. It’s a small, gaudy thing he found in a gumball machine, and Peter hates it. 

But the wide, happy smile that Derek gave him, the warm trusting eyes--Peter crouches down and takes it, gravely, saying, “Thank you, pup.” 

Derek beams, and even Laura laughing doesn’t dim that shine. 

~*~ 

Talia frowns, when Derek is fourteen and stubbornly insisting that he’ll marry Peter one day. 

Peter draws his boy close, away from her judgmental eye and says, “Darling, you can’t say that.” 

Derek gives him a look, equal parts hurt and stubborn. “Do you not want me?” he asks, his voice high and breaking and Peter’s heart squeezes. 

“I don’t want you to get in trouble with your mama, pup.” 

Derek frowns, and Peter cups his face. “You love me. And I don’t need you to say it, to know.” 

~*~ 

Derek stops saying it, when he meets Paige, and stops saying anything, when he finds out how deep Kate’s treachery ran. He curls into himself, and that smile, the one Peter swore would never dim--does. 

~*~ 

“Stop it,” Laura hisses, and Peter goes still. 

“Don’t you think I’ve tried,” he hears Derek say. 

His voice is rusty from disuse, and tired. And it makes Peter  _ ache _ because Derek doesn’t talk, anymore, not to him, not to the pack. 

He bottles up all his words, and hides away with them. 

“You almost  _ killed _ us last time you  _ fell in love. _ ” Laura snarls. “Maybe keep it in your goddamn pants.” 

Peter bristles, but it hurts too. 

Because Derek is with someone. 

He loves someone. 

And once, he’d believed it, every time Derek said he’d always love Peter. 

~*~ 

“Are you mad at me?” 

Peter startles, then sighs. Derek is sitting on his couch, curled up into a ball, and he looks  _ miserable. _

It’s been months since that overheard conversation with Laura, and almost a year since Kate, and he realizes, abruptly, how much he misses Derek’s voice. His words. 

His bright shining smile. 

“Why would I be mad at you?” 

“You avoid me,” Derek says, softly. 

Peter closes his eyes. “I want you to be happy, pup.” 

Confusion drifts through Derek’s scent, and then, “So  _ you _ avoided me?” 

Peter smiles at him, sadly, “I think it’s self-preservation, darling.” 

Derek whines at the name, and Peter comes to sit on the couch, unable to resist the boy when he looks so lonely.

He’s been isolated, even within the pack, since the Kate fiasco. 

“I’m sorry,” Peter whispers. “I’ll do better.” 

Derek hums, and nestles closer to him, and some of the sharp hurt in Peter’s chest goes loose. 

~*~ 

“Do you remember when you used to joke you’d marry Uncle Peter?” Cora asks. 

Peter freezes. 

It’s been good.

It’s been a month of  _ almost _ normal. Of shy smiles, and evening cuddles and Derek’s warm bright eyes following him, and his  _ voice _ spilling out, in the quiet apartment. 

And now Cora is going to ruin it. 

He turns away, waiting for Derek’s laugh. 

“I wasn’t joking,” Derek says, mildly, and Peter whips around. 

His eyes are shining, and he  _ knows _ his heart is pounding, that there is raw want on his face--but he can’t make himself hide it, can’t do anything but stare at Derek and  _ hope.  _

Derek huffs, and crosses the room, sliding his arms around Peter’s waist and drawing him down, into the familiar crook of his throat. “Didn’t you know?” he asks, and soft lips press against his temple. “I love you. I’ve  _ always _ loved you.” 

Peter closes his eyes and basks in that, in the steady pounding truth of it. 


End file.
